Adaptive Structuration Theory of Marshall Scott Poole

CHAPTER 18: ADAPTIVE STRLTCTLTRATION THEORY
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to act assertively. But this soft critical edge seems tame for a theory so deeply rooted
in the ideas of Giddens, a leading figure in the critical tradition.
Ken Chase, a colleague at Wheaton, puts much of the responsibility on Giddens.
Chase claims that the mark of a good critical theorist is that he or she
"avoids separating ethical responsibility from theory construction and, accordingly,
provides theory with an internal standard for moral argument.,,30 Although
structuration theory takes communication seriously and claims that morality is
an issue in all interactions, Giddens doesn't provide a moral compass that indicates
a clear ethical direction. Other critical theorists featured later in the book
offer critiques grounded in the ethical assumptions of their theories (see Chapters
20, 26, 34, 35). They leave no doubt about what kinds of communication they are
for, and what they're against.
Poole's faithful adaptation of Giddens' ideas and terminology has another
drawback. The complexity of Giddens' thinking overwhelms most readers, and
his ideas are couched in a prose style that even his admirers describe as dense,
thick, unforgiving, and impenetrable. Poole's writing is much more accessible, yet
Giddens' heaviness still comes through. Ironically, Poole reports that Giddens
doesn't recognize his ideas when they're applied in a microanalysis of smallgroup
structuration. Apparently, the British sociologist pictures sedimented
structures being built across an entire society over decades, rather than layers of
rules and resources forming within a group after a few meetings.
Poole acknowledges that structuration is a tough concept to grasp and apply.
He critiques all group communication theories- his own included- for often
failing to capture the imagination of students and practitioners:
We have not intrigued, puzzled, or spoken to most people's condition. I fear we
have overemphasized technique and propositional soundness at the expense of creativity.
Creativity and a certain element of playfulness are just as important as
sound theory construction. 31
Adaptive structuration theory may not be playful, but it holds out the satisfying
promise that every group member can be a player in the process of what the group
creates. Some readers might wish that Poole had never abandoned the simple fivestep
path of group decision making. That route is certainly less complex than the
sedimented, rock-strewn landscape of structuration that Poole describes. Yet it makes
no sense to stick with a simplistic theory when the actual dynamics of group life have
proved to be quite complicated and rather unpredictable, probably because people
are that way. Poole has therefore chosen to craft a theory of commensurate complexity.
I for one would prefer he tell it like it is rather than try to dumb it down.
QUESTIONS TO SHARPEN YOUR FOCUS
1. Poole refers to group communication as action rather than behavior. How does
his choice of words reflect a rejection of the phase or single-sequence model of group
decision making?
2. Poole and Giddens regard duality of structure as the key to understanding structuration.
How does the Dilbert cartoon on page 243 illustrate this crucial concept?
3. Suppose you've been elected by communication majors to represent student
opinion to department faculty. In what way is your role both a rule and a resource?
How could you produce and/ or reproduce student influence?